Thai Music - Pop (String)

Published: 31st July 2009Author: Know Phuket

In our last article about
Thai music, we looked at Peua Cheewit. This time out we will look at the current
Thai pop scene.

Thais sometimes call their pop music 'string'. Others, more harshly, call
it bubblegum pop. It has a strong western influence and really started to
become popular in the mid-nineties. Western artists such as Britney and Michael
Jackson were heavily marketed and started making big inroads into the Thai
music market. This was followed by the introduction of pretty Asian boy bands
and girl bands from Japan and South Korea.

It was not long before Thailand was producing pop acts of its own. They are
very much imitations of the pop stars from the west. There are many male and
female singers with glamorous images, boy bands and girl bands. Thailand will
never have a problem finding beautiful young people who can sing and dance
and many of the stars are genuinely talented performers.

Pop is now the biggest music market in Thailand. There are many, many Thai
pop stars. We will try to introduce just a few of the biggest names to give
a taste of what they are producing. Again, we will include a few links to
examples of these artists work on YouTube.

'Bird' Thongchai McIntyre (born 1958)

It
is probably fair to call Bird the biggest pop star in Thailand. He has been
a regular at the top of the charts since the mid-nineties and has a long string
of hits. He first found fame with a few minor acting roles before landing
the lead role in the internationally acclaimed 'Sunset at Chaopraya'
(1996). He plays a Japanese soldier during the World War II occupation of
Thailand who falls for a Thai woman in Bangkok.

He soon turned to singing and has never looked back. He is undoubtedly one
of the biggest stars in Thailand. His mellow voice, clean cut image and middle
of the road songs have made him popular with all sections of mainstream Thai
society

His father (who died when Bird was still young) was Scottish, which explains
the light skin and western nose look that Thai people consider so attractive
and seem to insist upon in so many of their stars.

Bird's recent work has included collaborations with Mor Lam star Jintara
and rock star Sek Loso.

Tata Young (born 1980)

Tata
Young was groomed for stardom from an early age. She won her first singing
contest at age 11. By the time she was 15 she had released her first album
and was a big star in Thailand. She had a string of Thai hits and also did
some acting work.

She is unashamedly driven and ambitious and soon started working towards
international fame. She performed in the US, Australia, China and Japan. She
has since had huge success in the Philipines, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan.

She is the naughty girl of Thai pop. A little bit of a Thai Madonna. She flaunts
her sexuality and is reputed to have undergone breast enhancing plastic surgery.
She has had a string of high profile relationships including one with Thai
tennis star Paradorn Srichaphan. Behind the controversy and sexy image, she
is actually a very capable singer.

Her father is American, which gives her that light skinned, luke-kreung (mixed-race)
look that Thais love so much.

In 2004, she released her first English language album 'I Believe'. It included
the single 'Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy', which stirred up more controversy in Thailand.
In 2006, she released a second English language album and she is currently
working on a third. She has had tremendous success across much of Asia but
she still has not broken into the English language market as much as she would
like.

Da Endorphine

It
is a little unkind of us to file Da Endorphine under pop. She is a genuinely
talented singer with a distinctive and powerful voice. She is currently the
biggest selling female star in Thailand. She initially found fame with the
band Endorphine formed in 2004 but she subsequently went solo and took the
name Da Endorphine.

She released her first solo album 'Parb Luang Tah' (Illusion) in 2007. It
was a huge success. In 2008, she released her second album 'Sound About'.

She has a tiny frame and a tomboy look but belts her songs out with tremendous
power. She has been unable to perform recently because of a throat problem
but she has now recovered and is due to play Phuket Brewery on 22nd August
2009.

Palmy (Born 1981)

Palmy
is yet another Thai pop star who is a luke kreung (mixed race). Her mother
is Thai and her father is Belgian. After spending her early years in Thailand,
she completed her schooling in Australia before returning to Thailand. She
loved singing and immediately set about doing the rounds of the record companies
to audition. Remarkably, she quickly got a break with Grammy and released
her first album at age 21.

Her great voice, bubbly personality and clear enthusiasm for singing quickly
made her a big hit.

Girly Berry

Thai
record producers quickly started creating their own imitations of the western
girl and boy bands. It is not difficult in Thailand to find good looking,
energetic young singers and dancers. Probably the most successful of all these
girl and boy bands has been Girly Berry.

They are very attractive young women and they market an overtly sexy image,
which has not always gone down well with the more conservative parts of Thai
society.

In 2008, the Thai government were looking for some celebrities to front their
annual campaign for women to dress modestly during the Songkhran water fight
festival. They thought Girly Berry with their sexy image would be ideal candidates
because if they would dress modestly it would encourage all young Thai women
to do the same. Girly Berry happily accepted the role only to appear all over
the front pages of the national newspapers on the first day of Songkhran both
wet and very skimpily dressed. It was great publicity for the band but did
not go down too well with the authorities.